


Electric Boogaloo

by ToukoTai



Series: A Comedy of Errors [1]
Category: Pocket Monsters | Pokemon - All Media Types
Genre: Gen, Mistaken Identity
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-06-12
Updated: 2016-06-12
Packaged: 2018-07-14 15:43:25
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,648
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/7177838
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/ToukoTai/pseuds/ToukoTai
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Later he would kick himself over his reaction. Which, while very calm for the circumstances, did not go very far to fully conveying how completely and totally she had missed the mark in identifying her pokemon.</p><p>“That’s not a fearow.”</p>
            </blockquote>





	Electric Boogaloo

**Author's Note:**

> Crossposted from my [tumblr](http://pkmn-trainer-touko-tajiri.tumblr.com/)
> 
> I made a post about a fic idea I had once and everyone really REALLY liked it. And some friends asked for it, so I wrote it.  
> The working title for this fic was Angry bird Dad. None of the people have names because I just didn’t. That’s why.

“Fearow!” The high pitched yell rent through the morning air. “ _Fearow!_ Come baaaack!”

Following the sound of mild distress, the trainer was rather taken aback by the source. It was a girl, but a very, very, _very_ young girl. He’d be willing to bet that she wasn’t even registered as a trainer yet.

She was a tiny little slip of a child, and looked every bit of what he’d assume a small girl would. She was wearing a pale pink daisy patterned smock shirt _thing_. He wasn’t up to up on kid fashion, so sue him. A matching pale yellow t-shirt under it, blue jeans rolled up at the cuffs, showing off sparkly pink slip on sneakers that, yes, lit up along the sides in sudden bright flashes as she paced in a circle. Her brown hair was tied into two small pigtails that poked out under a matching pale pink bandana tied expertly. _Probably not even old enough to tie her own shoes,_ the trainer thought, watching her pace and call loudly for her wayward pokemon.

“Fearow!” He winced at the incredibly shrill cry. While this wasn’t a particularly dangerous stretch of route, being just on the other side of mt moon, it still probably wasn’t a good idea for a kid as young as her to be toddling around the woods, screaming for her pokemon.

“You need some help, kid?” He called out to her, stepping into the clearing. The little girl whirled around, almost tripping over her own two feet. Big brown eyes took note of the pokeballs on his belt and then locked gazes with his own.

“You!” She shouted, flinging an arm out to point at him so hard, he almost felt it. “You’re a trainer!” She plowed on without waiting for him to respond. “I challenge you to a battle!” The loud sound of spearow calling to each other broke the dumbfounded quiet.

“Umm…with what pokemon?” The trainer finally ventured, scratching the back of his head. A startled gasp was his only response as the girl started frantically digging through the messenger bag purse slung across her chest. Her small face scrunched in determination.

The trainer saw her take out and put back:

-a ball of brightly colored rubber bands

-(3) cool rocks, a box of band aides

-a box of colored chalk

-a small notepad

\- a pokemon sticker book

-her house keys

-loose band aides

-two handfuls of candy

-a box of poketreats(sounding half empty)

-various scraps or wrappers and paper

-a slightly scuffed pokeball (which she returned to the bag with a shake of her head.)

Finally, she pulled out a slightly dented _and_ scuffed pokeball with a look of triumph. Which was quickly replaced with a frown.

“Mister Iggles isn’t for fighting.” She muttered, like someone had drilled that point into her head until the lesson had finally stuck. She stuffed the pokeball back in her purse.

“You don’t have one, do you?” The trainer prompted gently. The girl nodded, her look of determination now directed at her shoes.

“I lost my fearow.” She admitted finally, as though half the forest hadn’t heard by now.

“I gathered.” The trainer told her dryly. One small hand gripped the sky blue strap of her purse fiercely.

“A rattata stole my sandwich and he chased after it but now I can’t find him!” Her voice turned into a wail, and she sniffed loudly. Oh dear lord, those were legit tears of frustration in her eyes.

“Well, maybe he flew back to your house.” The trainer tried reasoning, if the fearow belonged to one of her parents or an older sibling, it might have gotten bored of chasing a rattata and just gone home to its trainer. Fearow were not the best at babysitting and its trainer should have known better. “Why don’t you tell me where you live and I’ll walk you back, okay?” The suggestion met some unexpected opposition.

“No!” She shouted. “Fearow wouldn’t go home without me!” To complete the picture of child defiance, she stomped her foot, causing the lights to flash on her sneaker. “He wouldn’t _leave_ me here!” She wiped her nose across the back of her arm with a disgusting snuffle. “He’s _my_ pokemon! And he wouldn’t _do that_!” She declared, as though that were _that_. Raising her head, she glared at the trainer, daring him to just try and contradict her.

 “ _Your_ pokemon?” He questioned, deciding not to even pretend to touch that issue. Because dear god, what kind of parents got their child a _fearow_ for a starter?

“Yes! I caught him.” She told him, holding up the slightly scuffed pokeball from earlier. “I saved up _all_ my birthday money and my _all_ allowance and I bought a pokeball _all_ by myself!” She emphasizes ‘all by myself’ proudly and loudly, jabbing a thumb against her chest.

“So you caught your fearow…in that pokeball?” It definitely needed the clarification. To the trainer, it was rather strange that a full grown wild fearow could be contained with just the lucky toss of a small girl’s first pokeball. But stranger things had happened, the trainer supposed.

“Uh-huh.” Her head nodded like a bobble figure’s. “I snuck into the powerplant and he was there! He was so big and pretty! And when he looked at me, he looked so _angry_. And that wasn’t right, because I got lost, and you can’t be angry with someone who’s lost. It’s not their fault. And I told him so.” She stated matter of factly, like telling off angry wild pokemon was a thing that was _done_.

“And then I told him that he shouldn’t be angry because it was a nice day and we could play tag if he wanted and I’d even let him be _It_ ,(I’m the best at being _It_!) and he agreed, so we played tag in the field and he scared away the mean pokemon and I tagged him once but he tagged me twice and when mom was calling me home I told him he was the nicest pokemon ever, even nicer then Misty’s golden, (who’s super duper nice!) and that I wanted to be friends for-for _ever_!” There were stars in her eyes as she threw her arms out wide. The trainer felt a little _overwhelmed_ by the information being thrown at him. The girl’s words practically tripped over each other on their way out of her mouth.

“Because you’re supposed to be friends with your pokemon.” She paused to tell the trainer reproachfully, like she thought he’d probably missed that particular rule and needed a reminder. “So I caught him.” She finished with a sharp nod and a fold of her arms over her chest.

“Just like that?” He asked. A little dubiously and dazed after that rushed speech.

“Yup!” She puffed her chest out proudly.

“At the powerplant?” He tried again, weakly. As far as he knew there weren’t any fearow anywhere near the powerplant. But it wasn’t so unheard of for one to be released in the area or maybe got knocked off their migratory path or something. The girl frowned at him.

“Yeah, that’s what I said. Do you want me to tell you again? I can!” The trainer shook his head.

“No, I got it now, how about we go find your fearow?” He held out his hand, but the girl only shook her head.

“I have to stay here.” She pointed a finger at the ground. “If I leave he won’t be able to find me!”

“Okay,” The trainer felt a little bemused at the situation. He couldn’t just leave the little girl out here by herself, waiting for her fearow to maybe come back. In all odds the wild pokemon had probably just gone back to the power plant and wouldn’t be returning. But the girl was also not giving into any of his attempts to get her to come back to the town or even leave the little clearing she was in. “What’s the last direction you saw him heading in?” Maybe he could send his swellow out to look for the fearow. The girl opened her mouth to respond and was cut off, by a rather deep, gravelly voice coming from back the way the trainer had come.

“Well, look what we have here.” The trainer whirled around. Coming off the path behind him were four older trainers. Four older trainers wearing black with red R’s prominently displayed. The girl squeaked and ducked closer to his side. “We got a little turned around headed toward mt moon, but it looks like our luck is evening out.” The leader continued, as his underlings spread out. “A seasoned trainer like yourself should have quite a bit of cash on you, to say nothing of some decent pokemon.” The girl’s hand latched onto the side of the trainer’s pant leg. Dark eyes narrowed in on her at the movement. “And taking a little insurance policy will help matters along in the long run, right boys?”

Faced with the four Rocket thugs slowly advancing, the trainer gently pushed the girl behind him.

“Come here little girl, we’ll help you find your fearow.” The leader wheedled. His voice gone higher and sickly sweet in tone.

“No!” The girl snapped, her fingers gripping the trainer’s pantleg tightly. “I dun wanna go with you! You’re ugly!” She ducked her head out around the trainer’s knee to stick her tongue out at the Rockets. “Bluuuu~”

“Why you little brat.” The leader growled, a pokeball enlarging in his fist.

“Do you have any other pokemon?” The trainer asked her, never taking his eyes off the advancing enemy. “Besides Fearow,” he cut in. The girl pressed a different pokeball, the dented, scuffed and scratched one into his hand.

 “Just Mr. Iggles.” She said quietly, the fingers twisted in his pantleg starting to tremble as the Rockets started pulling out pokeballs and fanning into an attack formation.

 “And he’s…?” The trainer prompted. _Please don’t be an igglybuff, please don’t be an igglybuff._ He silently chanted in his head, already knowing the answer.

“An igglybuff.” She confirmed. “My big sis caught him for me. He’s not for fighting, she said. So that’s what I have fearow for. But I think big sis wouldn’t mind.” She added a small tremor of worry in her voice. Wordlessly he passed the pokeball back to her, pretending not to hear her slight sigh of relief, and pulled out one of his own pokeballs. Trying to calculate if he could spare one of his team to get the girl out of danger. Rockets usually used raticate and golbat, even so, facing four teams at once would put a strain on his team. He couldn’t risk it, not since he was short a pokemon.

The trainer squared his shoulders and got ready for the fight. He could do this. His team was more than ready. Even down a member. This wouldn’t be easy, but he hadn’t lost a fight against a Rocket yet. He just had to not underestimate them.

The trainer grimly reflected that maybe he’d accidently underestimated his opponents, as the last of his pokemon fainted with a final, ground shaking thump. Certainly the hypno had been a surprise he hadn’t really accounted for, and he hadn’t had quite as many potions and full heals as he’d thought. The girl twisted her fingers tighter into his pants leg. The hypno raised its arm and the trainer tensed, one hand finding the girl’s bandana covered head.

“Kiddo, you’re going to have run now.” He said softly out of the corner of his mouth. He felt her shake her head no against his leg. “It’s too dangerous now, when I say so, you have to run as fast as you can back to the town. Are you ready?”

Instead of answering he felt her take a deep, deep breath. _Good, get ready to run_ , he thought. But she didn’t run, what she did do, was throw her head back and _scream_.

It was loud. It was high. It was desperate. It was child in fear, screaming for help, a wordless wail that slowly turned into words.

One word in fact.

“ _Feeeeeeeaaaaarrrrrrroooooooow!_ ” The strength of her cry had halted the Rockets’ attack. For about twenty seconds after her scream ended, there was dead silence. No one moved or said a word. Even the wild pokemon in the forest had gone quiet.

“Well, that didn’t-“ The lead Rocket started to say. He didn’t get the chance to finish his sentence, when an answering call rang out through the still air.

It, too, was loud. It seemed to fill the silence like nothing else. Loud and powerful.  It went on and on and on.

 _That is **not** a fearow’s call._ The thought burst through the older trainer’s mind. One thing was for certain though, whatever pokemon was calling was _angry_.

The call stopped, suddenly. Once again silence reigned, and then in the distance the rumbled of thunder. A shadow passed over the sun, darkening everything.

The trainer turned his face to the sky. The sky that had been bright blue without a single cloud was now turning dark with rain clouds thunder clouds _storm clouds_. The wind picked up, one of the Rocket’s hats was ripped from their head and flung into the air. A storm front was blowing in. _Fast._ Thunder rumbled across the sky, lighting flashed in the clouds. Fat droplets of water smacked in the grass and leaves of the trees.

The fingers around his knee, had stopped trembling, the small girl’s head tilted back under his hand. She was watching the storm, the same as the rest, but the trainer got the feeling the girl wasn’t the least bit scared by it. The loud shriek of the angry pokemon came from right above them. In the midst of the roiling thunder storm.

The trainer had never seen a storm blow in so fast before.

Except once.

 In Johto, when Raiku the legendary pokemon of thunder had been restless. But they weren’t in Johto and Raiku wasn’t anywhere near here.

That just left-

“No. Way.” The trainer breathed as out of the dark black thunder clouds, accompanied by an earth shaking roll of thunder, a brilliant yellow bolt streaked to the ground.

To them.

To the Rockets.

The bright bolt turned red and flaming, the shape of a bird clearly visible as it plummeted in a controlled dive. It wasn’t a bolt of lightning; it was a brave bird attack, aimed right at the Hypno.

It didn’t slow down; the hypno probably had no idea what hit it.

The impact was so brilliant the trainer had to cover his eyes with an arm. When he could safely lower his arm to see again. He almost rubbed his eyes to make sure the sudden flash hadn’t messed up his vision.

Standing in the crater made from the impact of the brave bird, was a brilliant, yellow and black _legend_.

It wasn’t a fearow.

It _was_ furious.

Arcs of electricity played over bright yellow feathers. One foot pressed the fainted Hypno into the ground, the other dug into the dirt of the impact zone with wickedly sharp talons. Wings as large as a sailboat’s sail spread wide in a threat display. The sharp pointed beak opened, and the bellowing angry shriek of a call sounded. The trainer had a moment of deep gratitude that for whatever reason, it wasn’t directed at them but at the Rockets.

The following battle almost made the trainer feel guilty over how easily and thoroughly the Rockets’ were sent packing. But considering how hard his own team had been hit, he found he didn’t really mind.

Until the Rockets were gone, and it was only the girl, himself and an angry legendary pokemon.

The trainer pushed the girl more firmly behind him, as the zapdos turned slowly around to face them.  A pokemon this powerful and him without any of his team to help. The trainer grimaced. If they ran, he might, _might_ be able to use the trees to slow down the zapdos’ chase. If they managed to shake the large bird, he could use his pokegear and call the nearest town for help. The trainer tensed, hand shifting, getting ready to grab the kid and run.

Except the zapdos wasn’t _doing_ anything. In fact as soon as it was facing them, it had, well, fluffed itself out from hard angry battle rigidness. Making itself appear… _fluffier_. It hunched over slightly, bringing itself down closer to the ground and made an oddly soft chirruping sound in its throat.

“Fearow!” The girl squealed, all but knocking the trainer over in her haste.  The trainer felt his heart rise to his throat, his feet started to move but he’d be too slow to save her. Lucky, the girl didn’t need saving. She slammed into the chest of the Zapdos, arms thrown wide to catch as much of the bigger pokemon as she could, small hands gripping feathers tightly.

 The Zapdos did not attack. Not even at what looked like painful tugging of feathers. The zapdos did the exact opposite of attacking, smoothly folding its wings in and over the small body pressed against it. Not wide and back. Not a threat display, the trainer noted wildly. It almost looked like the zapdos was returning the…

Oh.

The trainer drew up short. It _was_ hugging the girl. This was why the Zapdos had crouched down. It had been putting itself on _her_ eye level. Deliberately making itself easier for a small, short child to _hug_. Not just any child, the trainer realized, _this_ girl in specific.

 _I caught him in the power plant._ She’d said, and the trainer knew there were _no_ fearow at the powerplant. There _was_ a zapdos though.

“I was so worried about you! And I was so scared when those big meanies showed up!” The girl was still pressed firmly against Zapdos, her chastising worried voice muffled by the large feathers her face was smushed into. Though zapdos had slightly pulled its wings back, the girl hadn’t even loosened her hold. “But I knew you’d come, fearow!”

“That’s, that’s not a fearow.” The trainer said a lot more calmly then he felt. Almost mugged by Rocket thugs, his own team completely KO’d and facing a pokemon straight out of legends that was beyond all belief, a little girl’s pokemon. The girl paused, mid giggle as Zapdos’ pointed(deadly) beak plucked her bandana off, to comb through her hair. Parting the strands of hair this way and that. Even tugging one of her pigtails back into what it deemed, the proper place.

 _Preening her_ , The trainer realized faintly, _its preening her like it would a chick. Holy mother of mew, this is going beyond me._

“Of course he’s a fearow.” She patted the zapdos’ chest plumage, and the zapdos refitted the bandana over her hair. “He’s got the spikey fearow feathers and the angry fearow look!” The way she phrased things made the trainer feel like _he_ was the mistaken one and not her. The zapdos wasn’t helping either, only fluffing its feathers up to look less like the sleek dangerous electric pokemon it was, all the while shooting him a particularly smug look for a legendary. “What else could he be?” She asked him, tiny fists now planted on her hips.

“A…zapdos?” He suggested meekly, this was absolutely ridiculous. The girl laughed at him, flat out _laughed_. And even worse, the zapdos joined in, great yellow feathers rubbing against each other to create static electric sparks. None of which harmed the girl.

“Don’t be silly.” She said matter of factly. “You’re _supposed_ to be a trainer! You should _know_ what a fearow looks like. _Honestly_.”

“Ah, right.” He sighed. “Sorry.” Deciding it just wasn’t worth it, he rummaged around in his bag.

“What are you doing?” The girl asked, tilting her head, and god help him, the zapdos mimicked her.

“Getting directions to the nearest town.” The trainer managed without laughing. At this point, it would be hysterical laughter that would frighten everyone involved. “My team needs to be seen to, I have to report this and now that you’ve found…” He paused for a second and then grudgingly continued. “ _Fearow_ , I should see you home as well.”

“Oh oh!” The girl jumped up and down, waving a hand in the air. “We can take you! I live in Celadon, it’s really close by! They even have a center! _Then_ I can go find a _real_ trainer to battle!”

“I am…I don’t… what are…” The trainer started and trailed off, because the girl was _not_ paying him any attention. She tugged on Zapdos plumage insistently.

Gently, without a trace of irritation, Zapdos crouched down, and the girl clambered, with a little of feather pulling, onto the great bird’s back. Well, this was probably a once in a lifetime chance, the trainer reflected.

“Screw it,” The trainer mumbled under his breath and strode over to the giant pokemon. He would swear the bird was laughing at him.

 

“Oh yes,” The Nurse Joy at the Celadon Pokecenter told him that night after the girl and _Zapdos_ had dropped him off. “ _Everyone_ around here knows about _Fearow_.”

“And she really thinks it’s a fearow?” He had to have someone else confirm it. Nodding her head, Nurse Joy covered a laugh with her hand at the trainer’s look of disbelief.

“No one wants to tell her, it’d be like telling her Santa isn’t real. He seems so happy just to pretend to be a fearow for her anyway.” She smiled brightly at the trainer. “They make an interesting pair don’t they?” The Nurse offered. The trainer slumped over the counter in exhaustion.

“You can say that again.”

 

**Author's Note:**

> As I stated before, if anyone wants to take the original plot bunny and use it on their own, they are welcome to do so. Just because I wrote a thing doesn’t mean it’s suddenly off limits.  
> And yes, there will be one for Articuno and one for Moltres.


End file.
